SALVATORE CARRUBBA – IL CUORE IN MANO

The Italian journalist, writer and academic has presented his most recent publication, a love tribute to the city of Milan. ‘Il cuore in mano’, the so called heart-in-hand, has always been the utmost quality of the town qualified as the moral capital of the Bel Paese.

Salvatore Carrubba, former director of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi and of Il Sole 24 Ore  – for which he still collaborates – has covered institutional positions dealing with the city’s welfare. For instance he was Milan’s Cultural Assessor until 2005 and is now Vice-president of the Fondazione IULM – besides being a professor in the same university – and President of one the oldest and most prestigious academies of fine arts, l’Accademia di Brera. His last book unveils a contemporary Milan that still needs growing but is slowly achieving an international identity through its population.

It is often believed that cities are loved completely and fully acknowledged by those who weren’t born in them, how is Milan in the eyes of someone from Sicily?

I was born in Sicily, but I’ve been living in Milan since 1963 so I feel more Milanese than Sicilian. I think that the core of Milan is that it succeeds in welcoming anyone who wants to become ‘Milanese’: I think this is the true characteristic of the city. After all the very name of the city, Mediolanum, in Latin means placed in the middle of Europe, so we’re accustomed to being open to foreign people, new ideas, exchanges, trades and so on. This means being ready for innovation, therefore from this point of view I believe Milan to be very interesting and active.

The book’s premise prepares the reader through a ‘warning to travellers’, to an adamant new discovery of Milan, do you really believe it is so ill-treated by its inhabitants?

I actually believe it is ill-treated by the mainstream media, who isn’t interested in knowing the city in depth, but is focused instead on delivering sensational stories concerning the outskirts. Today, I found an article on this Italian blog: http://www.tafter.it/2012/05/16/quarto-oggiaro-vita-di-periferia/. This report points out how Quarto Oggiaro, that for many Milanese is a very dangerous area of the city, is actually a rising headquarter. People live there quietly and have the feeling of living in a village rather than in a city. So I think that within Milan we aren’t able to give voice to all of these people.

On this subject you connect Milan’s physical transformation to the one concerning its population. If you go out of the Navigli ring, into the melting-pot of via Padova or to the suburbs which are slowly being englobed by the actual city, what kind of Milan can you find?

The main difference is that those areas were originally populated by the working class who toiled in factories. Milan has now closed the factories and these people have changed from a social point of view. We no longer have workers there, but a middle-class with degrees from universities. All the customs and habits have changed in comparison to their heritage. The suburbs have become very similar to the centre of Milan because there are more middle-class people all over town.There is no strong division between the rich part of the city with the bourgeois families and the outskirts with workers.

In your book you say that people have collective suggestions to identify cities, you associate Rome with the Empire, Paris with the Belle Epoque, New York with Contemporary Trends. Do you find it reductive for Milan to be associated with Fashion and Fairs?

I do think it’s reductive, because I think there’s more to Milan than fashion and fairs. I consider it the Creativity City. What Milan should do is try to understand the fact that it has a true characteristic to defend: it must define itself in the world as the city of creativity not fashion alone. Of course fashion is very important. But we must not forget that there are people who work for fashion; for instance my daughter is into visual marketing and is very fond of being part of this industry without being a designer. This is what I believe to be the true richness of Milan: we must remember that when we say ‘Moda’ we shouldn’t think only of Armani or Prada, but also of the many thousands of young people who are working behind the scenes of these brands.

Why is Milan loved abroad, but not as much by other Italian cities?

Because it’s rich and powerful. A chapter of my book focuses on this aspect with a Professor from Turin, living in Milan. Milan has never been interested in collaborating with other cities. Just at the beginning of the 90’s Milan understood that it was necessary to gain approval also from the other cities. I often use the example of Malpensa airport that did not succeed in becoming the hub airport of the Northern part of Italy, or of the South of Europe. This is due to the fact other cities in Northern Italy didn’t want to give up their airports, hence Malpensa was quite a useless investment.

Has the moral capital lost its sheen?

I don’t think Milan was ever the moral capital, even though one must notice that when the country wants to change, it always goes through Milan. Professor Monti, for instance has been summoned to be Prime Minister of our technical government.

You remark that Milan needs to change, but it isn’t up to politicians alone…

This is very important, because Milan changes historically as it succeeds in re-thinking itself inside the city. Politics is the last resort, for it has to accomplish what the city has already activated. Milan stopped being an industrial city because factories were closed down. But these didn’t close because of politics, they simply did, and people started looking for new jobs and politicians tried to channel these new trends. What we lack today is the possibility to discuss about the city. We used to have a network of associations that would do so. Nowadays all of this has worn out. Therefore at the end of the day the idea that change is up to politicians developed. Nevertheless it isn’t the mayor who changes Milan, it’s the city that changes the mayor.

Why did you decline to run for mayor?

The main reason was because I saw that some people were more interested in challenging the former mayor, rather than taking care of the city. I had the impression that the city was quite accustomed to the Moratti majority, so they were surprised when Giuliano Pisapia won. I wondered why I should run alone without having people who wanted to challenge themselves in this situation.

You point out Milan’s qualities: being bourgeois, enlightened and prone to change. You actually conclude your book encouraging the city towards reformism, in your opinion will EXPO 2015 be the occasion where we will retrieve the Milan ‘Heart-in-hand’?

I hope so. The Expo will succeed not through the number of visitors, but if Milan succeeds in projecting itself as a city with a vocation. If Expo will remain a simple touristic attraction, then it will be a failure. But if it succeeds in telling the world Milan is a major and unique role-player in certain fields then it will be a triumph.

by Chiara Spagnoli

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